1 Kings 4:16

Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) The ninth division, “in Asher and Aloth,” bordered on the Tyrian territory, stretching north from Mount Carmel, first along the coast, and then behind the ranges of Lebanon. In Judges 1:31-32, we read that the tribe of Asher did not occupy the territory assigned them (Joshua 19:24-30), but mingled with the native inhabitants. Aloth (or in the Greek Version Baloth) is unknown, and Josephus places this province on the coast, near Achzib.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-19 In the choice of the great officers of Solomon's court, no doubt, his wisdom appeared. Several are the same that were in his father's time. A plan was settled by which no part of the country was exhausted to supply his court, though each sent its portion.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the margin. Ahinadab had the territory from the places last mentioned as far as Mahanaim Genesis 32:2.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. The son of Hur—or, as the Margin has it, Benhur, Bendekar. In the rural parts of Syria, and among the Arabs, it is still common to designate persons not by their own names, but as the sons of their fathers.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher,.... In the tribe of Asher; a very plentiful tribe, particularly for oil; this officer was perhaps the son of Hushai, the Archite, David's friend, and, it may be, promoted for his sake:

and in Aloth; which signifies ascensions, mountains went upon by steps; near to this place was an high mountain, called the ladder of Tyre (t); perhaps that and the parts adjacent may be meant here.

(t) Vid. Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 10. sect. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. Baanah] The Hebrew orthography is the same as in 1 Kings 4:12. So read Baana. Here another son of his father’s friend is cared for by Solomon. Hushai, father of Baana, was devoted to David’s cause in the rebellion of Absalom (2 Samuel 15:32) and it speaks well for Solomon that this devotion is not forgotten.

and in Aloth] We meet nowhere else with the name Aloth. The LXX. read Βααλώθ, which the Vulg. follows in Baloth. Hence the R.V. has given and Bealoth taking the initial ב not as a preposition = in, but as part of the proper name. The name does occur (Joshua 15:24) but there it is of a place in the south of Judah. There may however have been another town or district so named elsewhere. The tribe of Asher, near to which this place must have been, lay on the sea-board, southward from Phœnicia, while Naphtali was to the east, and somewhat north, of it, above what in later times was the sea of Galilee.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - Banaah [or Baana, the second prefect of that name (ver. 12). The names are identical in the Hebrew. In 2 Samuel 4:2 the name is Baanah] the son of Hushai [the Archite, David's friend. Cf. 2 Samuel 15:32] was in Asher and Aloth. [No town or district of this name is known. Probably the word should be Bealoth, as in the LXX., Syr., and Vulg. Our translators have taken the initial בְּ for a prefix, but it is almost certainly part of the name. There was a Baaloth in Judah (Joshua 15:24) and a Baaloth in Dan (ibid. 19:44), but neither of these can be meant here.] 1 Kings 4:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Baanah the son of Hushai, probably the faithful friend and wise counsellor of David (2 Samuel 15:32., 1 Kings 17:5.), was in Asher and בּעלות, a name quite unknown. If בּ forms part of the word (Baaloth, according to the lxx, Vulg., Syr., and Arab.), we must take it as a district, since the preposition בּ would necessarily have been repeated if a district (Asher) had been connected with a town (Baaloth). In any case, it is not the city of Baaloth in the Negeb of Judah (Joshua 15:24) that is intended.